Select Local Merchants

As a consummate multi-instrumentalist and teacher, Alek Kotero traverses the many dichotomies of the music industry. Acoustic versus electric. Soft rock versus death metal. Simon versus Garfunkel. His breadth of experience and comprehensive training make him an ideal mentor for guitarists of all stripes. During his private sessions held on-location or over Skype, beginner and intermediate students as young as 6 hone old skills and learn new ones. Alek's teachings can range from reading guitar tablature to complex musical theory, enabling students to write their own licks, solos, and radio jingles.

Gymboree offers a bevy of baby-engaging classes in which parents and wee ones work together to build tots' creativity and encourage development through play. Weekly classes are available for every age from the freshly born sapling to the 5-years-young wise wanderer. This deal includes rhythm-building music classes, imagination-expanding art classes, and Gymboree's most popular class, Play & Learn. The month-long membership allows you to take one class per week, with make-ups available during enrollment if you miss a class. This deal also includes unlimited attendance at Gymboree's open gym sessions (contact location for schedule).

A lifelong pianist and oragnist, Carol Lynn Clark has taught piano since 1969. At Music Ed 4 U, Inc., she draws on those 40-plus years of experience to teach the instrument's fundamentals to students of all skill levels and ages, from preschool to adult. Using her own program and materials, Carol walks beginners through each new scale and chord step-by-step. As her pupils advance, Carol focuses on more complex techniques, such as playing waltzes with your elbows.

Owners Graeme and Hollee Winder and their staff of instructors at Winder Academy of Music teach their students to put their own personality and creativity into their music. During lessons, the instructors mix the fundamentals of music theory with creative activities that allow students to become a part of the music they're learning, thus encouraging them to continue and learn more. Lessons are available for everything from vocals, guitar, and drums to piano and brass.

After only two years of playing the Suzuki violin, 6-year-old Australian native Hannah Reid played her first concert: a Suzuki graduation at the Sydney Opera House. It would be the first of many concerts and instruments to come: by high school, Hannah was well versed not only in violin, but flute, piano, and singing. Since graduating from Australia's prestigious Sydney Conservatorium of Music, she's continued honing her musical chops by playing both classical and rock music.
At Reid Music Academy, Hannah draws on her lifelong musical passion—as well as 15-plus years as a teacher—to instruct students of all ages in a plethora of musical skills. Whether her pupils want to learn classical piano melodies or improvise jazz solos on the sax, Hannah tailors each piano, voice, and woodwind lesson to her students' favorite musical styles. Besides instruments, Hannah teaches music theory, songwriting, and performance skills, which helps students overcome stage fright more effectively than training kids to play blindfolded their entire life.

If there's one thing Joyce Wang has mastered in her 15-year career as a private music instructor, it's keeping beginners entertained as they learn the basics. Regardless of his or her experience level, Joyce arms each student with the proper books and tools?metronomes, piano-key neckties for at-home practice?as they learn piano-playing technique and how to interpret classical music, jazz, or pop. She also teaches music theory and prepares her students for the Certificate of Merit exam, a nationally recognized test that verifies a child's participation in a music-based extracurricular program for review by colleges.